Baseball game



April 5, 1949. J. J. DAWSON ET AL BASEBALL GAME 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 24, 1947 r/YJHA/ z/ffljnga A/A/PO/AM 4244777 INVENTORS April 5, 1949. J. J. DAWSON E AL 2,466,156

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lllumnnnw z 3 IN VEN TORS BY #WFW April 1949- J. J. DAWSON ET AL 2,466,156

BASEBALL GAME FiledDc'h. 24, 1947 4 SheetsSheet 3 BY WWWp zm Ap 1949- J. J. DAWSON ET AL 2,466,156

BASEBALL GAME Filed Oct. 24, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 554/V4Qfl/N0 4- 54249771,

INVENTORS Patented Apr. 5, 1949 BASEBALL GAME John J. Dawson, Pasadena, and Bernardino A. Farlatti, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application October 24, 1947, Serial No. 781,932

11 Claims.

This invention relates to an improved game and in particular to a game which is similar to a baseball game and which may be played indoors.

A main object of this invention is to provide a game having a playing field on which is marked or otherwise indicated a baseball diamond, with a pitcher unit or means for propelling balls toward the catchers box and a catcher unit or means for receiving the balls, the catcher unit being so constructed as to selectively sort the balls, and scoring means actuated in accordance with the manner of selection by the catcher unit or means for recording certain scores of the game. Specifically, the catcher unit or means is provided with a plurality of different size openings having surrounding lips of difierent sizes and contours so that there is a higher probability of the balls falling in certain of the openings than other of the openings and there is provided for each of the openings a separate conveying runner for conveying the balls falling therethrough to a particular part of the scoring means, the parts of the scoring means for all the runners being actuated by the balls so that difierent parts of the scoring means are actuated in accordance with the manner in which the balls pass through the openings to thereby indicate hits, outs, strikes or any other information desired.

The catcher unit or means is designed as above described so that more balls will fall through certain openings than other openings in order to simulate an ordinary baseball game where the number of hits must be less than the number of outs, the number of home runs less than the number of triples, the number of triples less than the number of doubles and so forth.

Another object of this invention is to provide a game as above described with mechanism which may be operated to deliver the balls from the scoring means to the pitcher unit where they may be used over and over again.

Another object of this invention is to provide a game as above described with player bodies associated with the playing field at approximately the bases and providing a mechanism whereby a player body may be raised when a single has been made to indicate a runner on first or so that any combination of player bodies may be raised to indicate men on any of the bases or so that the player bodies may be lowered to indicate no players on particular bases or all of the bases.

With the foregoing and other objects in View which will be made manifest in the accompanying detailed description and specifically pointed out in the appended claims reference is had to the accompanying drawings for an illustrative embodiment of the invention, wherein:

Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of the baseball game;

Fig. 2 is a partial plan View of the baseball game with the playing surface removed;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view along lines 3-3 of Fig. 2 showing the manner of operating the pitcher unit;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of a portion of Fig. 3 showing the pitcher unit in a position to accept a ball from the reloading mechanism;

Fig. 4a is an enlarged sectional View along lines 4a4a of Fig. 4;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view along lines 5-5 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view along lines 66 of Fig. 5 showing the openings in the catcher unit and the conveying runners therefrom;

Fig. '7 is an enlarged sectional view along lines 1-1 of Fig. 5 showing parts of the scoring means;

Fig. 8 is a partial sectional view along lines 15-43 of Fig. 5 showing the mechanism for delivering balls from the scoring means to the pitcher unit;

Fig. 9 is a view of a portion of Fig. 8 showing the mechanism for delivering the balls in its retracted position;

Fig. 10 is a sectional View along lines Ill-l0 of Fig. 2 showing the mechanism for raisin player bodies; and

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a scoring dial of the scoring means.

Referring to the accompanying drawings wherein similar reference characters designate similar parts throughout, the baseball game of the present invention comprises a hollow flat box having a top fiat surface providing a playing field I, a bottom 2 and sides 3 for spacing the playing field I from the bottom 2. A baseball diamond generally entitled A is marked or otherwise indicated on the playing field I to provide bases, a pitchers box, a batters box and catchers box. Edge pieces 6 and l constructed to indicate bleacher stands and edge piece 8 constructed to indicate a center field stand or grandstand may be provided and attached to the outfield sides of the hollow box and the rear corner of the box may be beveled so that the center field stands 8 may be attached thereto. Player bodies representing outfielders 9, Ill and II and infielders l2, l3,. l4 and I5 may be marked on the playing surface or upstanding piece representing players aieaise 3 bodies may be attached or connected to the playing field as is desired.

Means for propelling balls toward the catchers box is provided and consists of a pitcher body I9 constructed as shown in Fig. 3 mounted on a plate 20, said plate being pivoted to t e under side of playing field I by means of one leg of angle bar 2|, said leg being fixedly secured to plate 20 and pivotally connected to the under side of the playing field I by means of brackets 23, see Figs. 2, 3 and 4. provided with an upraised arm 25 having a hand 26, said hand having a hollow portion so as to contain a ball 21, said ball being delivered to the hollow in hand 26 by means to be described. An actuating rod 3| having one end thereof bent is pivotally fastened by the end of the bent'portion to about the middle of the other leg of angle bar 2i and rod 3| has the end thereof remote from angle bar 2| slidably mounted in a bracket 33, said bracket being fastened as shown in Fig. 2 to lower side 3 which is lowermost as seen in the figure. An operating lever 34 is fixedly fastened at one of its ends to the end of actuating rod 3| protruding through bracket 33, as shown in Fig. 3, and provided on its opposite or upper end with an operating knob 35. The operating lever 34 is contained within a slot 36 provided in an adapter 31, said adapter being fastened in the playing field, as shown in Fig. 3. Adapter 31 isso constructed that slot 35 has an offset portion, as seen in Fig. 2, so that when operating lever 34 is moved backwardly to the other end of the slot 35 the operating lever may be positioned within the offset portion of slot 36 so as to be temporarily held there. A corrugated rubber tube it is slipped over actuating rod 3| and fastened thereto and this tube is contacted by .a wheel 4!, said wheel has its periphery covered with corrugated rubber, and this wheel is fixedly mounted on a shaft 42, said shaft being rotatably mounted by means of a double collared portion 43 provided on shaft 42 within a ledge opening provided in the playing surface I, as best seen by reference to Fig. 3. A player body 44 con-. s-tructed to simulate a batter is fixedly mounted on the upper surface of the double collared portion d3.

A spring 45 has one end thereof connected to the end of the downwardly protruding leg of angle bar 2I, as seen in Fig. 3, and the other end thereof connected to a bracket 46, said bracket being securely mounted on the lower end of a reloading tube 41 forming part of the reloading means which is fastened by its upper collared end on the lower surface of playing field I, as seen in Fig. 3.

It will be seen that when operating lever 34 is moved back in slot 36 that the pitcher I9 will be pivoted to the position shown in Fig. 4 and the batter 44 will be pivoted in a clockwise position from the position in which the batter is shown in Fig. 1 simulating cooking the bat and when the operating lever 34 is nudged out of the offset in slot 36 so that it enters the main portion of the slot, spring 45 will cause the operating lever to snap forward until it contacts the other end of adapter 31, during which movement the pitcher I9 will quickly pivot forward to the position shown in Fig. 3 and will be brought to an abrupt stop when plate 20 contacts rubber pad 50 which is fixedly secured to playing field I by plate I,

screw 52 and nut 53, so that the ball is thrown from hand 26 of the pitcher along the dot-dash path shown in Fig. 3 into a catcher unit to be de- The pitcher body I9 is 4 scribed. During the movement of actuating rod 3| tube 4!) will rotate wheel 4| so that the batter 44 will be moved so as to simulate striking at the ball although the parts are so constructed that there is no chance for the ball to strike any part of the batter.

The means for reloading the pitchers hand 26 comprises reloading tube 41 which has a reloading bar 55 slidably mounted thereon, said bar having a stub shaft 55 protruding outwardly therefrom through a slot 51 provided in reloading tube 41 and reloading bar 55 has a ball containing slot 53 provided therein adjacent its upper end and said bar is groovedor undercut at 59 so that a ball will be contained within reloading bar 55 during the time that it is raised vertically, Reloading tube 4'i is grooved at 60 so that a key 6| provided on reloading bar 55 may slide therein sothat said reloading bar is correctly guided insuring that it will always properly accept balls from a conveying tube .52, seeFig. 4. Stub shaft 56 has an opening therethrough, as seen in Fig. 4a, and the longer leg of an angle rod 65 freely slides therethrough, as shown in Fig. 411, said angle rod being pivoted at approximately the bend thereof to the under side of the playing field by a bracket 96 and the shorter leg' of angle rod 65 rests under plate 20; Reloading tube A! is provided with a concave shallow 61, as shown in Figs. 4 and 4a and it will be seen that when plate 29 is pivoted by the operation of operating lever 3d to the position shown in Fig. 4 that the long leg of angle rod 55 will be raised and will slide through stub shaft *56 thereby raising reloading bar 55 to the position shown in Fig. 4 in full lines and upon further upward movement of the longer leg of angle rod 65 the key 6| will contact the collar of reloading tube 41 so that reloading bar 55 will be canted into shallow 6'! as shown in dotdash lines in Fig. 4 and in this position the ball 21 within reloading bar 55 will be deposited in the hollow in hand 26 of the pitcher body I9 and this movement of the ball from the reloading bar 55 to. the hand is caused in part by the inertia given the ball by its movement from the full line position to the dotted line position and in part by the fact that the bottom of the ball holding slot in reloadingbar55 is. now at such an angle that the force of gravity will move the ball out of the slot.

As before mentioned when the pitcher I9 was brought to a halt by contacting rubber pad 50 the ball 2'! in hand 26 was thrown into a catcher unit which is generally entit1ed B in Fig. 1. This catcher unit comprises a hood II which is fastened to the upper surface of playing field I by any suitable means. such as screws and a catcher body 12 crouches in the usual position for receiving a ball from a pitcher is preferably designed as to straddle hood II so that said hood is practically hidden from view. An umpire body I3 may be provided to be positioned back of and slightly to one side of the catcher body I2 so that the umpire body is in a position in which the umpire in an ordinary baseball game would be located. A sorting plate 151s fastened in an opening provided in playing surface I, as shown in Fig. 5, and this sorting plate is provided in the .particular form of the invention disclosed herein with holes I6, II, 18, I9, and 8|, all of which holes except holes 16- and II are of different sizes, holes I6 and 'I'! being approximately of the same size and having lips formed in the upper surface of sorting plate 15 (if-approximately the same contour and size. Holes. I 8, 19,. '80 and 8.Ii have surrounding lip formations of decreasing size and contour, as can be seen by reference to Fig. 6. It is obvious that when a. ball 21 is thrown into hood II that the probability of it going through holes I8 and I1 is greater than the probability of it going into the remaining holes and the probability of the ball going into holes "I8, 19, 80 and BI is decreasingly probable. For purposes of clarity in the following description hole I6 may be considered as the out hole, hole 11 may be considered as the strike hole, hole 18 as the single hole, hole 19 as the double hole, hole 80 as the triple hole, and hole 8| as the home run hole. The above construction approximately simulates the probability of hits, strikes, and outs in the ordinary baseball game. It will be understood that the above specific construction is not intended as limiting the invention as it is obvious that more or less holes may be provided or other construction provided to make it more or less diflicult for the balls to enter any of the holes and that the invention is not limited to out, strike or hit holes as other holes such as a stolen base, foul ball, error, etc. may be provided.

Conveying runners for conveying balls away from holes 1 6, 11, I8, 19, 80 and 8| are provided by corrugating conveying runner plate 85, :as can best be seen by reference to Figs. 3, 5 and 6 so that a runner 86 leads away from hole IS, :a runner 81 leads away from hole 11, a runner 88 leads away from hole I8, a runner 89 leads away from hole I9, a runner 90 leads away from hole 80, and a runner 9I leads away from hole BI. Runner conveying plate 85 has a scoring box 92 fastened to the end thereof, this scoring box being secured to under side of playing field I by a flanged portion 93, see Fig. 5.

A scoring means or mechanism is provided with a plurality of scoring dials, part of which are actuated by balls and part of which are not actuated by balls but all of which may be manually actuated by the operator of the game. Automatically operated scoring dials 94, 95, 9E, 91, 98 and 99 are provided for runners 88, 81, 88, 89, 90 and 9! respectively and are rotatably mounted on shaft I00, said shaft being fixedly mounted by means of brackets IOI on the under side of playing field I. Each of the automatically operated scoring dials has a side paddle wheel, a serrated portion and a numbered portion, see Fig. 11, and is positioned on shaft I with the aid of washers I as to position the paddle wheel portion of each dial opposite its respective runner, see Fig. 5. It can be seen from Fig. 11 that there is a number on each dial for each paddle wheel space and it can be seen from Fig. 5 that when a ball rolls down one of the runners and moves onto a paddle wheel of a dial that the dial is moved two spaces or numbers. In order that numbers will appear in consecutive order in the scoring means the dials are alternately numbered around the periphery thereof, as can be seen in Fig. 11, in that numbers 3 and 4 are one space apart and by this construction the numbers do appear in consecutive order so that the dials record the number of balls passing therethrough.

Other dials I08, I01, I08 and I09 which are only manually operated are rotatably mounted on shaft I00, dials I06 and IN being positioned along shaft I00 adjacent one end thereof and .spaced by washers I05, and dials I08 and I09 being positioned along shaft I00 adjacent the "other end thereof and these dials have only a numbered portion and :a serrated portion. Since they are only manually operated they may be numbered in consecutive order around the periphery thereof.

Playing field I has a rectangular slot provided therein over which a marked scoring :plate III is securely fastened, said scoring plate being provided with slots of such shape and size that one number only of each :dial can be viewed therethrough and the serrated portions of each scoring dial protrudes therethrough so that any of the dials can be manually rotated by placing a finger on the serrated portion of each dial and moving it, this manual operation being desirable so that the device can be reset as each team comes up to bat. Name plate holders 2 may be provided at opposite ends of scoring plate III to contain team name cards H3 or other desired information.

In this particular form of the invention the scoring plate is marked so that the letters team appear above the plate holders II2, the letter R for runs appears above dial I06, H for hits appears above dial I01, lBH for one base hit appears above dial 94, outs for players out appears above dial 95, 2BH for two base hit appears above dial 96, strikes appears above dial 91, 3BH for three base hit appears above dial 98, and HR for home runs appears above dial 99, H for hits appears above dial I08 and R for runs appears above dial I09 as seen in Fig. 2. It will be seen that when a ball is received by the catcher unit and falls through one of the openings provided in sorting plate 15 that the ball will move along runner plate 85 along one of the runners beneath the hole through which it falls and be deposited between paddles of the paddle wheel dials and the weight of the ball will move the dial around so that the numbers of different kinds of hits, runs and strikes are automatically recorded on the scoring mechanism.

When the balls fall from the paddle wheels of the scoring dials they drop through a mouth piece I I5 provided on box 92, see Fig. 5, and into the box proper which has a slanted bottom, Fig. 7, so that the balls move toward a delivery nozzle H8. The delivery nozzle is fastened to the conveying tube 62 and a gate H1 is slidably mounted in a slot provided in nozzle H6, this gate having a stub shaft II8 fitted within a slot II9 provided within conveying tube 62. A flange I20 is provided on gate Ill and has one end of a spring I22 fastened thereto, the other end of said spring being fastened to nozzle I I6.

A plunger I25 is provided in conveying tube 62 and has a flexible cable plunger rod I26 fastened thereto, said rod having plunger knob I2'I fastened on the end thereof remote from plunger I25. Conveying tube 62 is fastened to side 3 by any suitable means such as screws, see Fig. 8. A compression spring I30 is fitted around plunger rod I26 and serves to urge plunger I25 toward the conveying tube and will push the balls through the conveying tube until knob I21 abuts against side 3 and the unit may be designed where at that point the last ball is pushed into the reloading bar or the game may be designed so that there are still some balls in the conveying tube. When knob I21 contacts side 3 it is time for the operator of the game to reload the device which may be accomplished by drawing knob I21 outwardly so that plunger I25 contacts stub shaft H8 and draws gate II'I back permitting the balls in box 92 to move into conveying tube 62 to reload the device and when knob I21 is released, compres- -sion spring I30 then pushes the ballsto the reloading bar and reloading tube and the game may proceed.

Means are preferably provided 'in this game for indicating players on the bases so, for instance, When a single is made .an upright body may be raised on the first base. Upright plates I35 have painted or otherwise indicated thereon player bodies and are pivoted by means of hinges I36 to the top of playing field I by hinge bars I37 and playing field I is grooved to receive plates I35 so that they are flush with said field. Each hinge bar I31 has angularly bent ends and playing field I is provided with slots through which they pass. One end of each hinge bar I31 has a spring I38 attached thereto which is attached to the bottom of playing field I by means of a stub shaft I39, see Fig. 10. The other end of the hinge bar I31 for the third base runner has a cable I40 attached thereto and the other end of cable I40 is attached to an operating bar I4], said bar being provided with a knob and being slidably mounted within an adapter I42, said adapter being provided with a slot having an ofiset portion so that operating bar l4I can be drawn back and temporarily held in the offset portion of the slot in adapter I42 so that plate I35 for the third base runner is raised indicating a. player on third base. The other end of the hinge bar I3! for the second base runner has a cable I44 connected thereto, said cable passing around a rotatably mounted pulley I45 and being connected to an operating bar I46 which is slidably mounted within a slotted adapter I4! in a manner similar to that of mounting operating bar I4 I. The adapter I4! is also provided with an offset portion within its slot so that the player at second base may be raised and held in the raised position. The other end of hinge bar I31 for first base has a cable I49 fastened thereto, said cable passing around a rotatably mounted pulley I50, the end of cable I49 being fastened v to an operating bar II which is slidably'mounted within a slotted adapter I52 in a manner similarto the mounting of the other operating bars so that a player may be raised at first :base and temporarily held in its raised position, as shown in the case of the player at third base in Fig. in dot-dash lines. 7

The operation of the game has been explained in some detail hereinbefore but for the sake of clarity the manner of playing the game will be summarized. Plunger knob I2! is pulled out and conveying tube 62 is loaded with balls from box; 92 and operating lever 34 is pulled back. and set in the ofiset slotted portion of adapter 3'! during which movement the pitcher body I9 is cocked back and the reloading bar is raised and aball deposited Within the hand of pitcher body I9.; The operating lever 34 is then nudged out of the offset slot in adapter 31 so that the pitcher body pivots forward and hits the rubber pad throwing the ball into the catcher unit where, for instance, it may go into hole 18 which is the single holes: The ball is deposited into runner 88 which carries it to the paddle Wheel of dial 94 so that the dial is rotated from its zero position to indicate that a first base hit had been made. Operating bar IEI is then moved back into the offset slotted portion of adapter I52 and plate I35 is raisedat first base indicating a runner on that base. The operating lever 34 is drawn back again reloading the pitcher and when the operating lever is allowed to snap forward in adapter?! the pitcher 'is the on hole and the ball will be conveyed alon runner B6 to the paddle wheel of dial 95 rotating the dial until the number 1 appears thereon indicating 1 out. The game is then played until there are 3 outs at which time the number of runs made are recorded for the ABCf team by manually moving dial I06 and the 'number of bits is recorded by manually moving dial I01 and then the other team is at bat and the other person who is playing the game will then be the operator and will manipulate the game until he has 3 outs. g

It will be seen that the above game is a very interesting, entertaining and novel device allowing persons to play the game indoors with the chance of making hits, runs and outs being Very similar to that in an ordinary game.

Various changes may be made in the details of construction without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A game providing a baseball diamond, means including a tiltably mounted pitcher body adapted to receive balls from the rear thereof for propelling balls toward the catchers box,

means for receiving'and selectively sorting the balls actuated/in accordance with the manner of selection by the second named means.

3. A game of the class'described having a substantially flat surface on which is marked a baseball diamond, means for propelling balls toward thecatchers box, means for receiving the balls having a plurality of compartments into which the balls may fall and being so constructed that it is easier for the balls to ,entervsome of the compartments thanv others, and scoring means including a plurality of, runners, each runner leading to a separate paddle wheeled zdial actuated in accordance with the manner in which the balls are divided up in the last named means.

4. A game of the class described having a substantially flat surface on which is marked a baseball diamond, means .for propelling balls toward 7 the catchers box,v means for receiving and selectively sorting, said balls, and scoring means including a plurality of runners each leading to a. separatepaddle wheel dial for recording the number of balls actuated in accordance with the manner of 'selectionbythe second named means and for returning the balls to the first named ms s- 5. A game of the class described-having a substantially flat surface on which is marked a baseball diamond, means for propelling balls toward the; catchers box, means foryreceiving theballs having a plurality of compartments into which theballs may fall and being so constructed that it iseasierjor the balls to enter some of the compartments than others, said last named means trapping. the balls received therein so that l he al s re i d t -t ro t m a t- 9 ments; and scoring means actuated in accordance with the manner in which the balls are divided up in the last named means and for returning the balls to the first named means.

6. A game of the class described having a substantially flat surface on which is marked a baseball diamond, means including a tiltably mounted pitcher body for propelling balls toward the catchers box, means for receiving and selectively sorting said balls, means for depositing balls on the pitcher body, scoring means for recording the number of balls actuated in accordance with the manner of selection by the second named means, and means for raising and lowering bodies at approximately the bases on the diamond to indicate players on certain bases.

7. A game of the class described having a substantially flat surface on which is marked a baseball diamond, means for propelling balls toward the catchers box, means for receiving and selectingly sorting said balls, scoring means for recording the number of balls actuated in accordance with the manner of selection by the second named means, and conveying means for causing the balls to be delivered from the scoring means to the first named means.

8. A game of the class described having a substantially flat surface on which is marked a baseball diamond, means for propelling balls toward the catchers box, means for receiving the balls having a plurality of compartments into which the balls may fall and being so constructed that it is easier for the balls to enter some of the compartments than others, scoring means including runners fixed to the diamond and leading to rotatable dials actuated in accordance with the manner in which the balls are divided up in the last named means, conveying means for causing the balls to be delivered from the scoring means to the first named means, and means for raising and lowering bodies at approximately the bases on the diamond to indicate players on certain bases.

9. A game of the class described having a substantially fiat surface on which is marked a baseball diamond, means for propelling balls toward the catchers box, means for receiving and selectively sorting said balls, scoring means including a plurality of runners each leading to a separate paddle wheel dial, for recording the number of balls actuated in accordance with the manner of selection by the second named means, and a body pivoted in the batters box and so connected to the means for propelling the balls 10 toward the catchers box that when a ball is propelled toward the catchers box the body is pivoted to simulate a player striking at the ball.

10. A game of the class described having a substantially fiat surface on which is marked a baseball diamond, means includin a tiltably mounted pitcher body having an arm adapted to receive balls while the body is tilted in a backward position for propelling balls toward the catchers box, means movable upward and tiltable to deposit a ball on the arm, means for receiving the balls having a plurality of openings having different ball receiving characteristics, scoring means actuated in accordance with the manner in which the balls are received by the openings, and conveying means for causing the balls to be delivered from the scoring means to the first named means.

11. A game of the class described having a substantially flat surface on which is marked a baseball diamond, means for propelling balls toward the catchers box, means including a hood for receiving the balls having a plurality of openings of different sizes into which the balls may fall, said hood being so constructed as to trap entering balls therein so that the balls are constrained to fall through the openings, each opening being relieved around its lip, the reliefs around some of the openings being difierent from the reliefs around other of the openings, scoring means having a plurality of scoring dials, said dials being so associated with respective openings that said dials record the number of balls falling through the respective openings.

JOHN J. DAWSON. BERNARDINO A. FARLATTI.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 970,881 Cadwallader Sept. 20, 1910 1,053,788 Crew Feb. 18, 1913 1,153,719 Simmons Sept, 14, 1915 1,422,383 Schumacher, et al. July 11, 1922 1,773,227 Huggins Aug. 18, 1930 1,909,772 Lamb May 16, 1933 2,294,035 Kellermann et a1. Aug. 25, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 376,359 Great Britain July 11, 1932 

